


Morning Glory

by raiyana



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Hobbit OC - Freeform, Language of Flowers, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Tolkien Secret Santa, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21991582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raiyana/pseuds/raiyana
Summary: Bofur finds himsef taking an interest in botany - or is it an interest in Sam Baggins?Pinch-hit TSS2019 written for Gilmorez
Relationships: Bofur/Original Hobbit Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19
Collections: Tolkien Secret Santa 2019





	Morning Glory

**Author's Note:**

> OC belongs to Gilmorez, who describes him thus:  
> Sam, Bilbo's younger brother, went on the Quest. Trans man. Can be shy, especially when given attention from the person he's interested in, but overall is quite loud and cheerful. Quite stubborn, tends to stand his ground in arguments. Very sweet and kind, loves books, can draw. A romantic at heart. Short blond hair, blue eyes. Short and chubby.

“Whatcha drawin’?” 

Startling the wee Hobbit hadn’t been his intention, Bofur would claim if pressed, though he’d admit that the flushed cheeks in response were rather fetching, if pressed further.

Luckily, neither Bifur nor Bombur were around to press him for answers, both being too busy with keeping watch to notice him sidling up to sit next to Sam taking advantage of the last light of day for his drawings.

Not as scholarly as Ori, who did his level best to document the entirety of the Quest in his drawings, Sam’s artwork possessed the same joyous kindness that made the hobbit himself Bofur’s favourite to ride beside. Sam would often point out the plants they passed, absentmindedly listing their medicinal qualities while Bofur nodded and pretended to know what under stone a carbuncle might be. Perhaps it was a flower? Hobbits did seem overly fond of those.

“It’s a Morning Glory,” Sam replied, shading a petal until it looked almost real, and soft to the touch, “though they’re supposed to be a bright blue purple-ish colour.”

“Like… sunrise?” Bofur guessed, looking around the gloom of twilight to spot any such flower and coming up short.

“No, the name is because the only bloom for a day, from sunrise to sundown,” Sam replied absentmindedly, charcoal scratching across the paper of his sketchbook.

“How sad,” Bofur thought, almost startled to hear the words leave his mouth for the free air.

“No, they’re a symbol of affection,” Sam replied, turning his head to look at Bofur, the becoming flush in his cheeks fading as he gathered steam on the topic of flowers and the varied and obscure meanings that Hobbits seemed to give to them.

Bofur freely admitted that he didn’t remember half of the flowers he’d been told about as they travelled – his pony had liked to nibble on some in passing, which was as much as a Dwarf could ask from such frivolous greenery, really.

“But also love, and mortality,” Sam added, frowning at the setting sun and closing his book – how he’d managed to pack something like that Bofur still found amusing, contrasted with Bilbo who’d wanted to turn around for a handkerchief; they’d both had to purchase thicker blankets in Bree, of course.

“Why would you want a flower that speaks of love dying?” Bofur wondered, interested almost despite himself.

“It’s not dying, really,” Sam explained, smiling with a sad tinge to it, “we covered our parents’ graves with morning glories, for example… it’s meant to symbolise that love is not limited by our mortality.”

Bofur looked at him. “That’s kind of… sweet, really,” he said. “But then how do you know if it’s one or the other? You’ve talked about…” he had to search for the word, because Sam had also talked about something called a nosegay and they both seemed to be the same thing as a small collection of flowers… “posies.”

Dwarven courting made much more sense, he quietly decided, giving someone an appropriately thoughtful gift seemed much easier than trying to remember what flower meant ‘I like you’ while not also meaning ‘You are my enemy.’

“Well, I’d never give someone just one flower!” Sam said, looking almost scandalised – but it was the same kind of scandalised as Bilbo had looked at the discovery of his missing handkerchief situation, which Bofur agreed with Nori was a nobby kind of scandalised that wasn’t necessarily meant to make sense to a simple miner.

Which was quite well, as it didn’t.

“Every flower’s meaning is subtly altered by the rest of the flowers in the posy,” Sam lectured. “Morning glories, for example, can also express sadness at the death of your love – so if you were going out with a lass and then broke it off, she might send you a posy including them.”

“Highly unlikely,” Bofur scoffed, trying not to laugh when Sam’s face made that scandalised expression again.

“But Bofur, I’m sure she’d be sad to lose you – you’re very kind, and brave, and…” he petered off, that flush back in his cheeks.

Bofur’s own cheeks felt a little warm.

“No…” he tried, clearing his throat a couple of times, “I meant it’s unlikely that I’ll be courting a lassie, at all – I’m much more fond of lads, meself, ye see.”

The colour in Sam’s cheeks ripened like autumn apples.

“Oh,” he said, fiddling with his charcoal. “Well…”

“Oy, Bofur, quit your flirtin’ and come help me gather some wood for the fire!” Nori hollered, making them both jump.

“I should…” Bofur tried, gesturing in Nori’s direction as he got up.

“Yes…” Sam nodded, cheeks still a brilliant scarlet that Bofur rather thought begged to be kissed.

And for the first time he wondered if he would be able to find some of Sam’s flowers himself.

Courting a Hobbit couldn’t be _that_ different from courting a Dwarf, after all, and everyone liked gifts… right?


End file.
